In all honesty Rob I agree with you. They do have the right to buy the property, turn it into a community center and even pray in it. But is it "wise"? Of course one could ponder, "is it wise to build a gay bar next to a Muslim community center/mosque"? Probably not. It might offend somebody.

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

For the past month or so, along with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (link) the planned community center at 51 Park Place in New York City has dominated the news. Now, normally a community center would sound like a great idea; a place for kids to go to stay off the street and others to take classes. So what's the problem with it you may ask? It just happens that this planned community center is located six blocks from Ground Zero and it's being run by Muslims. Because of those two factors, the fanatical right has gone on a rampage trying to prevent it from happening.

Now this is just Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin's views, but as you can see, Fox News has been all over this issue. There are however some fallacies with this story. First of all, this is not a mosque. A mosque is a place of worship only. The Cordoba House at Park 51 is a community center with a recreational area, classes for people of New York to take, and a prayer space on the top two stories of the proposed building. So in other words, it's basically a Muslim version of the YMCA. Critics are saying that it's going to be a breeding ground for terrorists, if basketball players and creative writers are now considered terrorists. Secondly, it's not even located at Ground Zero, but six blocks away in the former Burlington Coat Factory store that closed after it was hit by debris on September 11, 2001. They chose this location because they were able to purchase the property for a great deal. You won't be able to see Gound Zero from the center and vice versa. This is not going to be a monument to the terrorists who orchestrated attacks but an attempt by the Muslim community to reach out to the rest of New York and say "we feel your pain." Muslims are peace loving people and the terrorists are just a fraction of a fraction of that, just as the protestors of the Westboro Baptist Church don't represent all of Christianity. I have friends from high school who were Muslims and they were very nice people. So far the fanatical right hasn't come up with a real reason for not building it other than that it wouldn't be right. What do you mean it wouldn't be right? Wasn't our great country founded on the notion of religious freedom? The first amendement to the Constitution guarantees that freedom and now Republicans want to take it away. What if it were a radical Christian group that attacked the Twin Towers? Would we be against the building of a YMCA six blocks from Ground Zero? I don't think so, because then the Bible-belt south would be up in arms.

I could go on about my views about this proposed community center, but I think Keith Olbermann's special comment on it from the August 16 episode of Countdown on MSNBC sums it up pretty well.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Democrats have historically been the party of the people. It was a Democratic president that brought us the New Deal and pulled us out of the Great Depression. It was a Democratic president and Congress that signed into law the Civil Rights act. It was a Democractic president that gave us a record budget surplus and economic growth. It was a Democratic president that pushed for conprehensive health insurance reform and sweeping Wall Street reform. But it was also a Democratic Congress that watered down the health insurance and Wall Street reform bills. Why is that? Because the Democrats in Congress right now lack backbones and tried to appease the Republicans on these key issues. Now, I understand the necessity of reaching across the aisle to gain support for a large bill. But when the other side makes it apparent that they will not support the bill, why try to appease them by stripping it of the essentials. If it weren't for this cowardness, we would have a public option in the health insurance reform bill. They should have realized that it was the Republican's goal to strip the bill of the meat of the reform leaving only a skeleton. But there is some hope in the House of Representatives for the Democrats, and they are Congressmen Anthony Weiner of New York and Alan Grayson of Florida. These two courageous men have taken up the banner of the Democratic Party and are speaking for the people, as evident in the videos above. They are not afraid to speak their mind and telling the Republicans where to go and how to get there. They are in this humble blogger's opinion, the finest and best people representing their districts in the House of Representatives. If the rest of the Congress were as passioinate as these two are, then more effective bills would be passed and there wouldn't the constant threat of filibuster and endless debates. Because right now, this is all I see:

Welcome to the newly revamped TYAO

Because of recent developments in politics, I've decided to change this from a place where all voices could be heard into a call for action from the progressive base of the Democrat party. I still encourage the regular readers to continue to return and debate me, but be warned that this blog will now take a more liberal slant (as if it hadn't already).